Living the California seasons

DENNIS MCTIGHE

The polar jet stream must’ve known we were in serious trouble here so

it took a drastic plunge to the south all the way down to Latitude 28

degrees north.

Last week, my closing statement was “Be bold in prayer.” It sure

can’t hurt -- it got the polar jet stream’s attention real quick. We

are most gracious recipients for the 180-degree turn you bestowed

upon a barbecued southland.

On Oct. 28 it was 83/46 at Big Bear. Tuesday it was 39/24 and the

ground has gone from black to white. To witness white flakes of snow

and ash landing on charred branches is like a Ray Bradbury scene.

Flurries are falling once again today, Monday, as I write here at

3 p.m. The humidity from 5,000 to 6,500 feet is 85 to 90% with very

light southwest winds. A week ago it was 5 to 8%.

I hope a lot of you got to see the inspiring sunset on Sunday.

There were some colors that haven’t even been named yet. Surface

visibility exceeded 60 miles. When you can see San Clemente Island an

hour before sunset at sea level (water’s edge), you’ve got virtually

no air pollution at that given moment. Last week we couldn’t even see

San Clemente town.

Some radio talk show guy in recent years came up with this one,

“You’ve got four seasons here in Southern California: fire, flood,

earthquake and drought.”

All four have lived up to their nomenclature just during the past

decade:

Oct. 27, 1993 -- Laguna burns (fire)

Nov. 9, 1993 -- sudden 1-inch rain (flood)

Jan. 19, 1994 -- 7.0 Northridge quake (earthquake)

Jan. 4, 1995 -- 4 inches of rain in 9 hours; boardwalk ruptured,

tens of thousands of tons of dirt surplus from newly completed Toll

road (flood)

Dec. 6 to 7, 1997 -- The Biblical rains, 8.05 inches in 24 hour

period (FLOOD)

Feb. 23, 1998 -- another assault of water, 4 inches in one day, 14

inches on the month (FLOOD)

Oct. 15, 1999 -- 7.2 hits Joshua Tree/29 Palms (quake)

June 30, 2002 -- marks the end of the driest season on record,

4.42 inches both in Laguna and L.A. eclipsing the old record of 4.5

and 4.85 respectively in 1960-61 (drought)

October to November 2003 -- You know the drill, fire!

But this has gone on probably since the dawn of time -- minus the

“firebugs.”

It’s all cyclical, nature’s way of checks and balances. In

pre-human times, I’m sure lightning caused a rash of blazes and

Carlos Santana’s Evil Winds (Vientos Diablos) did their share of

damage. It just wasn’t damage in the sense that we know the word.

There was just damage to trees, but no loss of material or family.

Families hadn’t been discovered yet.

But then we trickled in and we know life is a risk every day. So

we elate and then suffer. I believe, seriously, that Heaven, Hell,

Purgatory and Limbo truly exist right here on Earth.

I experience it several times daily. But we need the Hells to

appreciate the Heavens. We had the fires, then last Sunday night’s

sunset.

“If you wanna kiss the sky,

You got to learn how to kneel --

On your knees, boy!”

-- Bono

See you next week.

* DENNIS McTIGHE is a Laguna Beach resident. He earned a

bachelor’s in earth sciences from UCSD and was a U.S. Air Force

weather forecaster at Hickman Air Force Base, Hawaii.